Ekev 5776: Eyes on the Prized Land

Everyone wants our attention, and technology has made it both easier and more difficult to focus on what is truly important. Facebook keeps nudging me about the birthdays of people I haven’t spoken with in years, if ever, and there is no escape from the latest escapades of our politicians. Disasters cluster and clamor for our sympathies, and of course we want to help, but then immediate tasks like groceries, laundry and dirty dishes push headlines from our minds and leave us wondering if we are capable of achieving anything that might endure.

Wouldn’t it be nice to enjoy sustained focus on just one person, place or project? I have tried this summer to protect blocks of time for writing, with limited success, because there are so many competing interests. But as we approach both the new academic and new Jewish year, it is worth thinking about methods to allow ourselves to achieve focus so that we may accomplish more of our goals, rather than constantly shifting to whatever stimulus flashes before us.

At least we can comfort ourselves that this inability to focus is a human deficit, and that “the Guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps” (Psalms 121:1). This insomniac image of God is somewhat comforting, but our ancestors have always worried whether God is truly paying attention to our needs. Worse, we worry that when God does focus on us, it will be our worst moments, not our best, that stand out. This is why our high holiday liturgy emphasizes, זכרינו לחיים, “remember us for life”—we fear that when divine attention settles on us, our sins will stand out and our merits will be forgotten.

Parashat Ekev waxes poetic in praise of the Land and its great fertility. In Chapter 11, v.12, just before it gets to what became the second paragraph of Kriat Shema, the Torah states that the land that Israel is inheriting receives constant divine attention—The eyes of the Lord your God are on it from the beginning of the year until the end of the year.

Midrash Sifre Devarim (40:12) raises a problem with this lovely sentiment. Can it be that God looks only at the land of Israel? Doesn’t Job say that God waters the earth even in unpopulated places? The Midrashist gives an answer that works well for wedding Torah too. God indeed has special, undivided love for Israel, but because of that love, divine favor extends to all other lands as well. This is the argument of particularism for the sake of universalism. We cannot love everyone at every time, but when we focus our love intensively on our partner or family, then the experience of compassion can expand and encompass others whom we encounter.

Other rabbinic comments discuss the mixed blessing of divine attention. B. Rosh Hashanah (17b) notes that this constant attention sometimes works in Israel’s favor, and sometimes to its detriment. A page earlier the Talmud says that the way Israel behaves in the beginning of the year influences its fortunes through the end. The Talmud seems to be playing on the fact that the Torah text leaves out the “aleph” in the word מראשית, from the beginning. The word רש means poor, so there is room to infer that if Israel make themselves seem “poor” on Rosh HaShanah through intensive petitioning, then they will be enriched with divine favor through the end of the year.

Once we have God’s attention, what shall we do with it? Yerushalmi Brakhot 9:2 emphasizes the presentation of tithes—it is as if God has an “eye in the sky” or drone hovering over every Israelite field. When the farmers dutifully surrender crops to the poor, present gifts to the landless levites and priests, and then seek out the poor for additional gifts—God notices their generous spirits and responds with generous rainfall.

Midrash Tehillim goes a bit further—it says that the constant divine attention is actually stacked in Israel’s favor. God is waiting for Israel to act correctly; the moment that they do, it unleashes divine favor. Rashi summarizes the various Midrashim in his Torah commentary, but Ramban hints at the end of his comments to this verse that there is a secret meaning to the text. Of course he doesn’t say what it is, so let’s guess.

Perhaps Ramban implies that the “land” refers not only to the geographical unit known as Israel (or Canaan or Palestine—the point is a place). The “land” refers more broadly to the interface between the spiritual and physical realms. We live in a physical, material reality, but we have the ability to connect this life to a spiritual, moral, and divine realm. Divinity is always present in our world, and we humans have the capacity to channel it for blessing, or God forbid, to divert it for curse.

Here is a theology that works for me. It preserves the importance of particularism—it is fine to practice one religion and belong to one people, but don’t forget that the larger purpose is to convey blessing to all. Particularism can lead to arrogance, intolerance and violence, or it can lead to generosity, openness and grace. The Torah and its rabbinic interpreters are teaching us to focus intensely on our spiritual practice, but not to the exclusion of the needs of others.

This is also a theology of encouragement—constant attention can be either stifling or empowering. The earlier texts are neutral, indicating that God is equally inclined to bless or smite, whatever is deserved by our actions. By the later Midrash, we see evidence of something closer to grace or mercy. God is waiting for us to do the right thing. Like a parent who wants her child to be challenged and ultimately to succeed, God waits for us to do the right thing.

Imagine if we kept this kind of consciousness in mind as we navigated each day. God is waiting for me to do something really special. When will I get the chance? Will I have the opportunity today to intervene and make a positive difference in another person’s life? Such a mindset can shift our attitude towards the interruptions that delay our progress on other projects. If we allow the needs of others to occupy our attention, then just perhaps the rest of our efforts will also be worthy of blessing.